When there's hope

In Chapter 45 we start to see Laila and Mariam become stronger individuals. This all happens after Tariq shows up after many years. The readers learn that Rasheed paid someone to come to Laila and tell her that Tariq was dead, just so he can marry her. Now Laila is starting to see that maybe their lives can change because Tariq is back and can protect them. The only problem is Rasheed. When Rasheed learns about Tariq coming over, Laila starts to fight him back. Once Maraim sees that he is really hurting Laila and means to kill her, she starts to take action as well. she goes and grabs and shovel that ends up killing him at the end of the chapter. This shows us that these two women do have the power to protect themselves. That all this time if they just stood up to him and showed him who's boss, he would never bother them again.